Screw-holding attachment for screw drivers



June 3 1924 J. H. MOCKETT. JR

SCREW HOLDING ATTACHMENT FCR SCREW DRIVERS Filed May 16. v1923 f' :Hg 7

im Il %r Z 4 j f@ A TTORVEX JOHN H. MocKETT JR.

JOHN I'I. MOCKETT, JR.,

OF DENVER, COLRADO.

SCREW-HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR SCREW i Application led May 16,

To zZ-Z whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN H; MQCKETT, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and -State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Screw-Holding Attachments for Screw Drivers, of which the following .is a specilication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to screw drivers, and part-icularly to attachments for holding screws thereto while the screws are being driven. v

The general object of this invention is to provide a very simple and eliective device of this character which may be cheaply niade and which will firmly hold the screw in engagement with the blade of the screw driver not only when the screw is first inserted but while it is being screwed home.

A further object is to provide a device of this character in which the attachment is capable of being withdrawn froinits screwengaging position to permit the screw drive to be used as ordinarily.

A still further object is to provide a screw holder particularly adapted for setting and extracting small machine screws in inaccessible places, and which is further adapted to hold a washer against the head of the screw while the screw is being driven, thus insuring against loss of the washer when work is bein done in dark places.

Another o ject is to provide a device of this character vwhich will permit the blade of the screw driver to be dressed at any time without removing the attachment but which may be readily shifted so as to permit the removal of the blade in case it is required.

Still another object is to provide a device of this character which will hold a very small or very short screw.`

`Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Flgure 1 `1s a side elevation of a screw driver provided with my attachment and showing the screw holder in place upon the blade of the screw driver; j

Figure'2 is an elevation of the upper portion of the blade shown in Figure 1 but showing the screw holding sleeve retracted;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the construc.-` j n i f 1n this position. When 1t 1s desired to use tion shownrl in Figure 2;

1923. Serial No. 639,338.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fi ure 2;

`igure 5 is a cross section of a modified form of blade;

Figure 6 is a face view of the blank used in forming the sleeve 5.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that the screw driver consists of a shank and a handle. The shank has a relatively thin blade 1 which is illustrated as formed integral with the shank portion 2 which is sl'are in cross section and the portion 3 w 1ch is circular in cross section. This shank is mounted in an ordinary handle 10 having a ferrule 9. Any suitable handle may be used, however.

Surrounding the s uare portion of the shank and slidable t ereon isa sleeve 5 which is rectangular in cross section at its lower end so as to t the square portion of the shank and this sleeve at its lower end is operatively connected to a contractile spring 4, the lower end of this spring being in turn operatively engaged with the end of the handle of the screw driver by the ferrule 9. The extremity of the sleeve 5 is formed with a struck-up lip 11 which is shown as engaging the upper coil of the spring. The upper end of the sleeve is longitudinally split, as at 5, and reduced in width or cut away, as at 5", and the upper ends of these reduced portions are turned down at right angles to form opv posed jaws 8 which are disposed in spaced relation to each other andat-right angles to the longitudinal axis of the sleeve. These jaws are disposed on each side of the. blade portion 1 and normally the blade portion 1 projects through or beyond the jaws, as ilustrated in Figure 2. These jaws in this case will rest upon the shoulder la formed at the junction of the portion 2 with the portion 1, the sleeve being urged in this direction by the. contractile spring 4. It will be seen that the Shanks of the jaws 8 because of the slit 5a may be drawn apart and thus permit the insertion of screws having diierent diameters. The sleeve 5 is formed of' one piece of metal having the form shown in Figure 6, the jaws being bent upon the dotted line.

` Where the screw driver is to be used as ordinarily, vthe sleeve willbe retracted by the spring 4 upon the shank or blade until it strikes the shoulder 1a and will be held the device for the purpose of holding a screw in place upon the blade the sleeve is drawn out. and then the screw inserted laterally so that the extremity of the blade l. will engage with the nick in the screw while the slot l() will embrace the head of the screw, as shown in Figure 1. Under these circumstances the contractile spring 4 will act to draw the sleeve 5 toward the handle and toward the headed end ofthe screw against the blade l, thus holding the screw in place. If a washer is desired to be placed upon the screw, then the washer is firstplaced upon the screw and then the jaws 8 are engaged with the screw on the other side of the washer from the head, thus holding the washer against the head and the head against the blade l. When the parts are thus engaged it is obvious that the screw will be firmly held in place and that the screw driver may be inserted in otherwise inaccessible places and rotated to turn the screw in.

The device may be also used for the purpose of removing a screw already inserted and taking it out of an inaccessible or dark place where it is hard to see the screw. Under these circumstances the screw driver is first engaged in the ordinary manner with the screw and the screw reversed, turning the screw out. After the head of the screw has been turned a slight distance the sleeve 5 is forced forward and then forced laterally against the shank of the screw just below the head and the jaws 8 will spring out to permit the head to pass into the slot 10. Then the screw driver may be turned to fully withdraw the screw and the screw will lift out with the screw driver.

It will be seen that the sleeves and jaws are made of a single stamping of sheet metal. If of tool steel it can be heated and pressed to shape in a suitable form and then tempered. The jaws should possess some degree of elasticity, not for the purpose of holding the screw but to permit the insertion of a screw having a shank of greater diameter than the distance between the jaws and then, the screws being released, the jaws will assume their original shape. The sleeve when properly fitted to the blade or shank will freely-slide back and forth thereon but cannot turn and get linto a wrong position. This screw driver is particularly useful in connection with the setting and extraction of small machine screws in inaccessible places which cannot be reached by the fingers of the operator and where the screw would be likely7 to drop. Split or lock washers used with machine screws to prevent the latter from working loose after they have been set in place can be applied in connection with the screw, as heretofore stated. This device will hold the washers in position on the screw until the latter is securely set or started, thus insuring against loss of the washer when work is being done in uncertain light or semi-darkness.

The point of a screw driver sometimes requires dressing and this can be done without removing the attachment from the blade. However, should it be desired to remove it this is easily accomplished by merely 4unhooking the spring at the end resting against the ferrule. Then if the point of the tool is broken or the blade becomes bent, the attachment may be quickly and easily removed, the blade repaired, shortened if necessary, and again attached, when it will operate as before. With my device the screw is not automatically released from the jaws as it is being driven, as this is neither necessary nor desirable, as if the screw is so released from the jaws when being driven it leads to defacement of the object into which the screw is being driven as the jaws are forced apart or the ejection of the screw before it is started by the force of the coiled spring.

While I have illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 the shank as bein square in cross section, I do not wish to be Iimited to this, as a relatively narrow and thin shank might be used. In this case, however, the shank is rectangular in cross section, as illustrated in Figure 5, instead of being square, as illustrated in Figure 4. Any form of shank, however, whlch will provide the shoulder 1a and which will prevent the sleeve 5 from turning upon the shank will be suitable for this purpose. Attention is called to the fact that this screw holder is also adapted to hold the washer in place around machine screws, thus insuring against loss of the washer and permitting the washer to be used in place on' the screw before the screw is inserted or driven.

l. A screw driver having a shank formed with a blade at its extremity, the shank having a many-sided portion, a sleeve sliding upon the many-sided portion and fitting the same, the sleeve at its extremity being reduced and longitudinally split to form two longitudinally extending tangs, the material of the sleeve at the end of said tangs being angularly bent at right angles to the axis of the sleeve to form opposed resilient jaws.

spaced from each other to admit the blade between them and to receive a screw head, and a spring attached at one end to the handle of the screw driver and at the other end attached to said sleeve and acting to retract the sleeve and draw a screw head against the blade.

2. A screw driver having a handle and a shank formed to provide a blade, the'shank beyond the blade being man -sided, a many` sided sleeve of thin metal tting the shank and sliding thereon, the sleeve at its extremlty remote from the handle being longitudinally split at one corner of the rectangular sleeve to thereby provide opposed shank portions angularly bent at their extremities to provide jaws spaced from each other a distance equal to the thickness of the blade, said jaws being laterally expansible and contractible, and a coiled contractile spring surrounding the shank and engaged at one end with the sleeve and at its other end with the handle and acting to retract the shank 3. A screw driver having a handle and a shank, the shank being rounded for a distance from the handle, then being rectangular in cross section and then being formed to provide a relatively thin blade, a sleeve sliding on the rectangular 'ortion of the shank and fitting the same, t e sleeve at its end adjacent to the point'of the blade being out away on each side and longitudinally split between the cut away portions to form two other end to the sleeve and acting to retract the sleeve, the sleeve when retracted bearing against a shoulder on the shank.

resilienttangs, the extremities of the tangs ln testimony whereof l hereunto ax my signature.

JOHN n. Mookn'rir, JR. 

